The Senate has fixed November 15, 2026, as the deadline for the six remaining State Houses of Assembly to communicate their positions on the proposed State Police Bill.

The resolution was reached during plenary on Wednesday after the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, informed lawmakers that 30 out of the 36 State Houses of Assembly had approved the constitutional amendment seeking to establish state police.

Bamidele noted that the number of approvals had surpassed the constitutional requirement of two-thirds, representing 24 states, for the proposed amendment to progress.

States that have approved the bill include Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Gombe, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, among others.

He described the level of acceptance recorded so far as an indication of the widespread support for the proposed decentralisation of the country's policing system.

Following the update, Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged the lawmakers to allow the six outstanding states additional time to consider and communicate their decisions.

Akpabio, however, maintained that any State House of Assembly that failed to respond on or before November 15 would be regarded as having withheld its approval.

The Senate unanimously adopted the position, setting the stage for the next phase of the constitutional amendment process.